The problem that I was dealing with was helping students to save money towards the course. I chose this problem because students are notoriously bad with money and graphics can be a very expensive course if you want to get the most out of it. A lot of the equipment and processes of graphics cost money and can be really expensive, for example printing final copies of work or the reading list books for each module.
My research was definitely a majority of secondary research which is something that I would have rather not had.
I have definitely learned to manage my time better over these last 5 weeks which can be seen by the quality of the final product and the amount of work on my design practice blog. I have also started working more independently and broadened my ideas and how they can be developed, for example buying the fire blanket and going in a quite bold direction with the product and out of my comfort zone which I haven't really done before. I also learned to use an outside source for printing. By not using the Digital Print room I was able to manage my printing time around when I needed it not when the digital print room had available spaces. I used Staples to print my work which worked out well, although you have to be specific and clear about exactly what is needed or the print can go wrong (which it did for me, but they reprinted at no extra cost). The Staples prints were more expensive than the Digital Print room because as a business they need to make a profit from each print, but I was also paying for ease of use and being able to print when I needed it.
Time management can also be seen in my blog posts. After my tutorial with Amber I was really eager to keep up to date on blog posts and make them as I went along with the project instead of just doing 1 long post at the end of the brief as I usually do. I think I did this really well, as I was posting at least 1 blog post every day and usually between 2 or 4. I think it is much easier to see my design process on the blog now and I think the urge to blog every day has also made me blog a lot more work than in previous briefs.
I also worked quite a lot by hand when I was designing the character for my product and the different situations to put him in. I haven't worked by hand much in the past but it is really useful for quickly designing ideas and i think it worked out really well for me.
If I could do the brief again I would like to include more products. I have about 3 products this time around or 5 depending on how you look at it (The box itself, the front instructions and chart and the 3 cards inside) but I would like to create some more products that tie in with the design.
I also would like to try and steer away from using illustrator. I have used illustrator a lot in the past for my briefs and I'd like to try and use other computer programs or completely different design processes to create my final product. Illustrator creates really nice sharp images but it is restricted to the same style which probably limits my design potential.
I would also like to start using the blogs as my main source of work where at the moment I have been using a sketchbook. The blogs create a really nice looking professional environment to represent work in where as a sketchbook can get messy and unorganised. Working with the blog so much in the last couple of weeks has helped me appreciate how useful it is to have an assessed blog for the course.
Overall I think this brief has been really successful for me and I think it shows in the final product.
I think that the product is one of the better pieces that I have created and the whole process of designing and developing the brief has taught me a lot about how I work best and how to work to the best of my ability. Looking back over the year, I think that this brief shows how much I have learned since attending the college and how useful the course is for developing my skills.
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